Empire State

Steel and girders
They laid my cornerstone in '29
President Hoover
Threw a switch and the sky was mine
Crowds are linin' up Fifth Avenue
Mr. DuPont and his top hat smile
Cameras keep flashin'
Wall Street's crashin'
But the Empire State's come risin'

I'm the Tower of Babel
You want stories, I've got stacks
I rose up from the gravel
With a crack of a hammer
The stutter of a jack
I prayed on Black Sunday
For a ticker-tape parade
I'm an American story
That's how the Empire State was made

Mohawks on I-beams
Only sky on the 100th floor
Italians in blue jeans
Irishmen who came here for more
Swingin' hammers at halfway jigs
'Cause it's better than the old bread line
These night shift gypsies see the lights of Poughkeepsie
Through the clouds from my steel-rimmed shine

I'm the Tower of Babel
You want stories, man, I've got stacks
I rose up from the gravel
Through the gorilla off of my back
I cried that September Tuesday
When the towers came crumbling down
For as long as I'm standin'
I'll be the guardian of New York town

From the seventh wonder
Of the world
The world is nothin'
But its tiny pearl

I'm the Tower of Babel
You want stories, I've got stacks
I rose up from the gravel
With a crack of a hammer
The stutter of a jack
I don't know what will come tomorrow
I'm standin' strong today
I was forged in steel
The king of the newsreel
That's how the Empire State's gonna stay